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    Gender
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    Modern West Frisian has two grammatical genders: common and neuter. In principle, the distribution for simplex nouns is arbitrary. However, as a result of the animacy hierarchy there is a tendency that nouns denoting human beings prefer common gender, whereas mass nouns are mostly neuter. Nouns denoting animals and things occupy an intermediate position. This can manifest certain distinctions. Thus nouns describing human beings affectionately may sometimes be neuter, and concrete instances of a mass are often common gender.

    The gender of complex nouns is primarily dependent on the gender of the head, but here also the animacity hierarchy may cause certain shifts. The schwa extension -e may also function as a head, the reason why the substantial number of nouns ending in -e, as for instance brêge bridge, have common gender.

    Many Frisian nouns have the same gender as their Dutch cognates. There are some notable differences, however, which for the most part can be attributed to historical circumstances. The deviations tend to be partly eliminated nowadays, due to Dutch influence on Frisian.

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    [+]Gender marking

    Although Old Frisian had three genders, the language nowadays shows a two-way system. After the Middle Ages, the former masculine and feminine gender merged into common gender, while the neuter gender remained intact. The exception is the dialect of the island of Schiermonnikoog, where three genders are still alive.

    Gender marking cannot be read off from the noun itself. Rather, it is only visible from the determiners and modifiers accompanying it. The following grammatical elements may point out, whether a noun is common gender or neuter:

    Table 1
    Grammatical category Common gender Neuter gender
    definite article de ko the cow it hynder the horse
    demonstrative pronoun dy ko that cow dat hynder that horse
    dizze ko this cow dit hynder this horse
    sokke sjippe such soap sok iten such food
    relative pronoun de ko, dy't ... the cow that ... it hynder, dat ... the horse that ...
    interrogative pronoun hokke sjippe what kind of soap hok iten what kind of food
    elk each elke ko each cow elk hynder each horse
    adjective in wite ko a white cow in wyt hynder a white horse

    The treatment below restricts itself to definite articles to indicate a noun's gender.

    It should be noted that gender distinctions also manifest themselves in reference by personal pronouns, which, for one reason, is a complicated affair as personal pronouns still do distinguish three genders. For this issue, see the topic on personal pronouns, and especially this section about divergent pronoun use.

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    Three genders in the dialect of Schiermonnikoog

    The only West-Frisian dialect that retained the three gender system is the one of the island of Schiermonnikoog. This fact cannot be observed in the definite articles, since both masculine and feminine gender have the article de. However, the demonstrative pronouns have three forms, as have the relative pronouns. Moreover, the effects of the three genders can be seen in the inflection of the adjective. Finally, the three-way distinction also manifests itself in a special plural morpheme for feminine nouns. The morphological data can also be found in Fokkema (1969), partly also in Fokkema (1969), and in Visser and Dyk (2002).

    The interesting category are the feminine nouns, especially those that do not denote human beings. It appears that this category has special features, both semantically and phonologically. Its nouns denote concrete entities. For example, abstract concepts like need need or jocht right are masculine and neuter, respectively. The denoted concepts also have a limited space and form. Mass nouns are therefore not feminine. The classical article dealing with these features is Spenter (1971).

    Furthermore, the great majority of feminine words are monosyllabic - a substantial part of them shows a final schwa in mainland Frisian, as for example Schiermonnikoog spjald pin versus mainland spjelde. This phonological tendency has gone so far that even nouns denoting male animals may become feminine grammatically if they consist of only one syllable: so, the male duck, which is called jerk (mainland Frisian jerke) is a feminine word in the Schiermonnikoog dialect. Furthermore, the property of monosyllabicity has been reinterpreted in such a way that this category receives its main stress on the final syllable. We then see the effect that loan words from Romance languages, that typically have final stress, are categorized as feminine, although this gender otherwise does not seem very productive. Examples are febryk factory and fyuel violin, which have become feminine words in the dialect of Schiermonnikoog.

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    Gender in East and North Frisian varieties

    With respect to the Frisian dialects in Germany, East Frisian varieties kept a three-gender system, as North Frisian mainland varieties did. In contrast, the normal syncretism of masculine and feminine gender did occur in Insular North Frisian, however with a remarkable exception for Fering-Öömrang, the variety of the islands Feer and Oomram (Föhr and Amrum), where a – from a Germanic comparative point of view – special syncretism of feminine and neuter gender has taken place. This phenomenon is described by Hoekstra (1996) as the result of changes in the pronominal system. For an overview of East Frisian see Fort (2001) and Versloot (2001), for an overview of North Frisian see Walker and Wilts (2001).

    [This extra is written by Hauke Heyen (Kiel)]

    [+]The gender of simplex words

    There is no way of telling the gender of a simplex word by its form. Therefore, the gender of simplex words must be learned item per item. There are actually quite a number of words which have the same form, but which differ in gender. Compare the following list of homonyms:

    Table 2
    Common Neuter
    de bloed the sucker it bloed the blood
    de moed the courage it moed the mind
    de bout the bolt it bout the leg, the drumstick
    de hier the rent it hier the hair
    de fear the feather it fear the ferry
    de fal the fall it fal the hatch
    de soal the sole it soal the channel, the waterway
    de mesyk the music it mesyk the brass band
    de sin the meaning; the sentence it sin the temper
    de Skrift the Scriptures (bible) it skrift the writing; the notebook

    Gender is, however, not completely arbitrary. There are a number of phenomena that show that gender assignment is to some extent semantically driven. More specifically, gender assignment seems to be partly subject to the animacity hierarchy: human > animal > thing > mass. It appears that the more a noun belongs to the left side of the hierarchy, the greater the chance is that it has common gender. The reverse holds true likewise.

    In accordance with the animacity hierarchy most monomorphematic nouns denoting human beings are common gender, i.e. de minske the human being, de man the man, de frou the woman, etc. Exceptions are it bern the child and it wiif the wife. When a noun denoting one or more human beings is nevertheless used as a neuter word, it is always in an emotional (often pejorative) sense, witness the following contrasts:

    Table 3
    Unmarked Affective
    de minske the human being it minske the woman (emotional)
    de hear the gentleman it hear the fellow
    de naasje the nation it naasje the scum

    Also common gender nouns which are commonly used as emotional (mostly invective) terms for human beings (mostly women and children) show a tendency to become neuter:

    Example 1

    de/it pjut the toddler
    de/it poarre the toddler, the little thing
    de/it stumper the wretch, the poor thing
    de/it ychel the bitch
    de/it snib the snappy bitch
    de/it sleep the sloven, the slut
    de/it slet the slut
    de/it mokkel the cracker (emotional)

    Even nouns normally denoting animals or things may become neuter if they are used for humans in a derogatory sense:

    Table 4
    Thing/animal Human (derogatory)
    de flarde the rag de/it flarde the little rascal
    de blei the white bream de/it blei the silly girl
    de pyst the pizzle de/it pyst the hussy
    de kreeft the lobster de/it kreeft the sly woman
    de klier the gland de/it klier the pain in the ass

    Nouns denoting animals can be common gender (de ko the cow) or neuter (it keal the calf). In some cases, however, the common gender nouns show a tendency to become neuter:

    Example 2

    de/it ei the ewe
    de/it ezel the donkey
    de/it kamiel the camel
    de/it kameleon the chameleon
    de/it kwyn the freemartin
    de/it inter the yearling

    In a number of cases, the neuter noun denotes a substance (mass), whereas the homonymous common gender noun denotes a thing made of this substance:

    Table 5
    Mass Thing
    it hier the hair (mass) de hier the hair (thing)
    it hoarn the horn (mass) de hoarn the horn (thing)
    it doek the cloth (mass) de doek the cloth (thing)
    it trie(d) the thread (mass) de trie(d) the thread (thing)
    it reid the reed de reid the reed, cane
    it strie the straw de strie the (blade of) straw
    it gers the grass de gers the grass-stalk
    it hea the hay de hea the hay-stalk
    it koark the cork de koark the cork (on a bottle)
    it duffel the duffel de duffel the duffel coat

    Also compare the following cases in which basically neuter mass nouns like it sâlt the sâlt and it sop the soup are used as common gender nouns if they denote a specific portion:

    Example 3

    a. Wolst my de sâlt efkes jaan
    Would you pass me the salt (i.e. the salt cellar), please
    b. De sop stie al op 'e tafel
    The soup (i.e. the soup tureen) was already on the table

    It should be noted that some additional variation may exist with respect to the choice of the definite article in particular. For more information, see the definite article in Frisian.

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    The gender of proper names

    Proper names can show gender in certain constructions. In line with the animacity hierarchy, personal names are assigned common gender, and place-names are neuter, for instance in it Amearika fan 'e takomst the America of the future. An example with a personal name is de Wytske fan myn dreamen the W. of my dreams. Note that the element -ke in Wytske is a diminutive in a formal sense; the male's variant is Wytse. Unlike real diminutives, which always make the derivation neuter (see the next section), the suffix in personal names has no effect on gender.

    [+]The gender of complex words

    The gender of complex words is normally determined by their morphological head, which as a rule is the right-hand element in Frisian: the right-hand constituent of compounds, the base word of prefixations and the suffix in the case of suffixations. For example, diminutive formation always results in a neuter noun. Compare:

    Table 6
    Simplex word Complex word
    de griente the vegetables de sopgriente the soupgreens
    it sop the soup it grientesop the vegetable soup
    de die the act de misdie the ciminal act, crime
    it begryp the understanding it misbegryp the misunderstanding
    de baarch the pig it barchje the piglet
    de mûle the mouth it mûlfol the mouthful
    it skip the ship de skipper the skipper

    Even word-final elements which are not suffixes in a strict sense may determine the gender of the noun. Thus, almost all nouns ending in -e /ə/ are common gender. The relation between final -e and common gender is nicely illustrated by the following dialect pairs:

    Table 7
    Common Neuter Translation
    de golle it gol part of the barn where the hay is kept
    de souwe it sou the sieve
    de hoale it hoal the hole
    de swarde it swaard the rind
    de bille it bil the thigh
    de spine it spyn the pantry
    de tsjurre it tsjoar the tether
    de mudde it mud the hectolitre

    The behaviour of this final schwa can be best understood if it is asigned the status of a suffix. This idea is reinforced by the fact that -e at the same time determines the choice of the plural morpheme of these nouns, which is -en, and not -s, as could be expected in regular plural formation.

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    Gender change by opacity of a suffix

    Nouns ending in -el are mostly common in Frisian. This may explain why words like de stisel the starch and de sprusel the bit, the scrap, which originally are derivations with the neuter suffix -sel, have changed their gender. The word stisel originates from styf-sel, from the verb stiivje to starch (with shortening of the stem vowel). Sprusel is from sprút-sel, from the verb sprute to sprout. The reason for gender change is that this suffix has become opaque, which will have been enhanced by the deletion of the final consonant of the stem (respectively [f] and [t]). Follow the corresponding link for more details on the suffix -sel.

    Although the gender of a complex word is primarily determined by it right-hand head, the animacity hierarchy as described above plays a role in complex words as well. For example, derivations with the suffix -(e)ling can be either common or neuter, with this division that all words denoting human beings are common: de ferstekkeling the stowaway, de beroerdeling the vile fellow, de hoarnling the bastard. Also most words for animals are common gender: de mestling the store (animal), de harmeling the ermine, where de/it hokkeling the yearling can also be neuter. On the other hand, most derived words for things are neuter: it wytling the sheet, it keatling the chain, it fuotling the foot (of a sock, stocking). An exception is de tommeling the thumb (of a glove), maybe under influence of the base tomme thumb, which is common.

    There are also some compounds that are direct exceptions to the rule that the head determines the gender:

    Table 8
    Common head Neuter compound
    de bank the bench it finsterbank the window-sill
    de drager the carrier it pakjedrager the carrier (on a bicycle)
    de rôk the skirt it boarstrok the undershirt
    de bûse the pocket it festjebûs the waistcoat pocket
    de jefte the gift it sketjeft the portion of feed for the cows in the shed

    As with tommeling above, the gender in these cases seems to be determined by the non-head. However, it could also be the case that a historical change /də/ > /t/ hast taken place (see the section below), which might be possible as the compound no longer was transparant (note also the deletion of the final schwa in festjebûs and sketjeft).

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    Gender clash by clipping

    The phenomenon of clipping may also cause a deviation from the rule that the head determines the gender of a complex word. An example is it iepenloft the.N open-air, which is a stage play in the open air. The neuter gender is unexpected, since the head de loft the air is common. However, it iepenloft is a clipping of it iepen-loft-spul the.N open-air-play, where the original head it spul is neuter indeed.

    Possibly clipping is also the reason why there is a gender difference between de fuotbal the.C football, which is the actual ball with which football is played, and it fuotbal the.N football, which refers to the play itself (and everything accompanying it). The latter could be a clipping of it fuotbalspul the.N football-play , where spul play is a neuter noun. An alternative explanation may be found in the animacy hierarchy: the play could be interpreted as a mass noun, while the ball itself is clearly a thing.

    [+]Gender differences between Frisian and Dutch

    The gender of nouns in Frisian is often similar to the gender of their counterparts in Dutch, which has a two-gender-system as well, as is described here: gender. Still, there are a number of differences between the two languages. The most important of them are listed below.

    Common gender in Frisian and neuter (or both neuter and common gender) in Dutch is found with a number of nouns which have a final schwa in Frisian, but not in Dutch (for the effect of final -e, see the gender of complex words):

    Table 9
    Frisian common with final schwa Dutch neuter
    de koarde the cord; the flex het koord
    de oarde the region, place, resort het oord
    de fochte the liquid het vocht
    de fonte the font het font
    de hoale the cave; the hole het hol
    de hikke the gate het hek
    de oere the hour het uur
    de (spin)wiele the spinning-wheel het spinnewiel
    de snotte the snot het/de snot
    de makade the macadam het/de macadam
    de tarre the tar het/de teer

    In some pairs with the same gender distinction, common gender in Frisian may reflect an old dative form, i.e Old Frisian tha instead of nominative/accusative thet. The relevant nouns typically denote a place and frequently occurred after a preposition governing dative case. Examples are:

    Table 10
    Common in Frisian (old dative) Neuter in Dutch
    de mar the lake het meer
    de bosk the wood het bos
    de mul the waist het middel
    de midden the middle het midden
    de ein the end (but: it ein the piece, the distance) het eind(e)

    A clear explanation cannot be given for all differences, however. An example is Dutch het konijn the rabbit versus Frisian de knyn.

    As for the other way round, quite a number of nouns are neuter in Frisian but have common gender in Dutch. Here the neuter gender in Frisian may, at least in part, be the result of a historical phonological development by which the article de was reduced to /t/ and reinterpreted afterwards as it:

    Table 11
    Neuter in Frisian Common in Dutch
    it aard the nature de aard
    it almenak the almanac de almanak
    it bit the hole (in the ice) de bijt
    it boadskip the message de boodschap
    it brief the letter de brief
    it bûn the union de bond
    it fabryk the factory de fabriek
    it grif the slate-pencil de griffel
    it helter the halter de halster
    it hôf the yard de hof
    it kajút the saloon; the dormer de kajuit
    it kâlt the chat de kout
    it ketting the chain de ketting
    it laad the drawer de la(de)
    it laai the slate de lei
    it lêst the burden; the trouble de last
    it plak the spot de plek
    it rút the window-pane de ruit
    it sin the mind; the temper de zin
    it skaad the shadow de schaduw
    it slaad the salad, lettuce de sla
    it sop the soup de soep
    it stee(d) the place de stee
    it string the strand de streng
    it tiksel the shaft (of a wagon) de dissel

    It is remarkable that this group includes a large number of nouns denoting body parts:

    Table 12
    Neuter in Frisian Common in Dutch
    it sliep the temple de slaap
    it wang the cheek de wang
    it kin the chin de kin
    it burd the beard de baard
    it skouder the shoulder de schouder
    it boarst the breast de borst
    it spien the nipple de speen
    it bil the thigh de bil
    it kût the calf de kuit
    it ankel the ancle de enkel
    it krop the instep de krop
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    Dutch influence

    Nouns that have a Dutch cognate with a different gender tend to lose their original Frisian gender in favour for the one that figures in Dutch. This is especially the case with the lesser used words. Among others, this phenomenon is noticed in Tamminga (1978) (also to be found in Tamminga (1985:100-101)) and in De Haan (1997).

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    Literature

    This topic is greatly indebted to an unfinished grammar of Frisian, written in English by Jarich Hoekstra.

    For gender in Old Frisian, see Bremmer (2009), especially page 53.

    A few remarks on the gender of individual words are made by Kalma (1952:90-91).

    The explanations for the transition to common gender (i.e. older dative form) and to neuter (i.e. a historical phonological change) can be found in Visser and Hoekstra (1996). An elaboration is Visser (2011).

    The suffixal status of the gender-determining final schwa has initially been proposed by Visser (1986) and elaborated in Visser (1994), all on the basis of observations by Tamminga (1985:132-134).

    On the gender of proper names, see Visser (2002:267-268).

    References:
    • Bremmer, Rolf H. Jr2009An Introduction to Old Frisian. History, Grammar, Reader, GlossaryAmsterdam/PhiladelphiaJohn Benjamins Publishing Company
    • Fokkema, D1969Eat oer it SkiermûnseagerskStudia Frisica in memoriam Prof.Dr. K. Fokkema 1898-1967 scriptaWolters-Noordhoff225-229
    • Fokkema, Douwe1969Beknopte spraakkunst van het SchiermonnikoogsLjouwert/LeeuwardenFryske Akademy
    • Fort, Marron C2001Das SaterfriesischeMunske, Horst Haider, Århammar, Nils, Hoekstra, J.F., Vries, O., Walker, A.G.H., Wilts, O. & Faltings, V.F. (eds.)Handbuch des FriesischenMax Niemeyer396-408
    • Haan, Germen J. de1997Contact-induced changes in modern West FrisianUs Wurk4661-89
    • Hoekstra, Jarich1996Transitive pronouns and gender syncretism in Fering-Öömrang (North Frisian)Nowele2745-66
    • Kalma, Douwe1952Spraekkunstige ditten en datten IIDe Pompeblêdden: tydskrift foar Fryske stúdzje2390-92
    • Spenter, Arne1971Die Genuskategorie in der Schiermonnikooger MundartUs Wurk2027-36
    • Tamminga, Douwe Annes1978In skjinne laeiDe Pompeblêden40297
    • Tamminga, Douwe Annes1985Kantekers. Fersprate stikken oer taal en literatuerStifting Freonen Frysk Ynstitút oan de Ryksuniversiteit te Grins (FFYRUG)
    • Tamminga, Douwe Annes1985Kantekers. Fersprate stikken oer taal en literatuerStifting Freonen Frysk Ynstitút oan de Ryksuniversiteit te Grins (FFYRUG)
    • Versloot, Arjen P2001Das WanderoogischeMunske, Horst Haider, Århammar, Nils, Hoekstra, J.F., Vries, O., Walker, A.G.H., Wilts, O. & Faltings, V.F. (eds.)Handbuch des FriesischenMax Niemeyer423-429
    • Visser, Willem1986[review of:] D.A. Tamminga, Kantekers. Fersprate stikken oer taal en literatuerTydskrift foar Fryske Taalkunde293-96
    • Visser, Willem1994Schwa-appendixen in het FriesBooij, Geert Evert & Marle, J. van (eds.)DialectfonologieAmsterdamP.J. Meertens-Instituut116-137
    • Visser, Willem2003Patroanen yn ferlytsingsnammen.Philologia Frisica anno 2002 : lezingen en neipetearen fan it sechtjinde Fryske filologekongres16263-305
    • Visser, Willem2011Historical gender change in West FrisianMorphology2131-56
    • Visser, Willem & Dyk, Siebren2002Eilander Wezzenbúek: woordenboek van het SchiermonnikoogsFryske Akademy Ljouwert
    • Visser, Willem & Hoekstra, Jarich1996De- en it-wurden yn it FryskUs Wurk4555-78
    • Walker, Alastair G. & Wilts, Ommo2001Die nordfriesischen MundartenMunske, Horst Haider, Århammar, Nils, Hoekstra, J.F., Vries, O., Walker, A.G.H., Wilts, O. & Faltings, V.F. (eds.)Handbuch des FriesischenMax Niemeyer284-304
    ABOUT THIS TOPIC
    Author(s):
    Siebren Dyk
    Category:
    Frisian Morphology
    Publication date:
    14 May 2020
    Keywords:
    noungender
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